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Presidential pardon
Presidential pardons (also known as a shadow asylum ) exempt a person from any legal penalties or liabilities that would normally result from criminal acts. This immunity has been proposed and occasionally traded to terrorists or collaborators in exchange for very time-sensitive intelligence to fulfill such government goals as the capture of a weapon of mass destruction. Many of these such pardons were conditional upon the success of the subsequent government action. Other pardons, such as the one granted to Tony Almeida, were given despite his criminal action on account of mitigating circumstances. A pardon was given to Jack Bauer for his actions during Day 8 and Day 9 by President Heller, mainly to repay him for all the help he'd given during the Day 9 crisis despite Jack not wanting a pardon. Successful pardons Nina Myers Immunity and a full pardon were given to Nina Myers during Day 2 when she agreed to help Jack Bauer find a nuclear bomb. Later in the day, Myers had Bauer at gunpoint and demanded a pardon for his murder. Bauer urged President David Palmer to agree to the pardon but he soon realized that until the pardon came through, she could not kill him without being taken down herself. With this information he walked away from Myers, who could do nothing about it. When she had finished helping CTU, Myers was released. Tony Almeida Between Day 3 and Day 4, Tony Almeida was convicted of treason for aiding the terrorist Stephen Saunders when Saunders had Tony's wife Michelle Dessler hostage. Before leaving office, President David Palmer granted Tony a presidential pardon, apparently following a request by their mutual friend Jack Bauer. Lee Jong When Lee Jong was abducted by Jack Bauer from the Chinese consulate, he refused to speak unless granted a pardon and safe transportation to a place of his choosing. Former President David Palmer, who had authorized the abduction, got the documents signed by Charles Logan. After Lee's gunshot wound was treated and he was stabilized, he revealed CTU's next lead: the location of the factory which Habib Marwan was using as his next base of operations. Mandy When she was captured at the end of Day 4, Mandy was offered a full pardon (for all crimes, present and past) in exchange for revealing Habib Marwan's location. One complication was former President David Palmer, who was assisting President Charles Logan during the crisis. Mandy was the assassin who almost killed him at the end of Day 2, and she would be pardoned for that crime as well. Palmer nevertheless advised to go ahead with the deal, considering the gravity of Marwan's attack on Los Angeles with a nuclear weapon. After Mandy's lawyer, Todd Richards, assured her everything was in order, she gave up the location — the Global Center — where CTU successfully acquired evidence and stopped the missile strike. Charles Logan Charles Logan was pardoned by President Noah Daniels sometime after Day 6 for his involvement in the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy, ending his house arrest. Jack Bauer What was to be his last official act as President, James Heller filed a pardon for Jack Bauer. The pardon specifically gave clemency for Jack's actions during Day 8 (primarily, the killing of the diplomat Mikhail Novakovich and his staff), and also for Jack's assistance during Day 9 as he'd committed many crimes trying to help before Heller officially reinstated him. It was also indicated to cover Jack's assistance in Heller's death and any future crimes he'd commit stopping Margot as Heller told him it covered any crimes they could come up with for that day. Heller announced this to Jack at Wembley Stadium, saying Jack could go home now, moments before he was supposedly murdered by Margot Al-Harazi. Jack, who felt Heller was doing it to repay him for helping him sacrifice himself, told him he didn't want a pardon, particularly not for helping him sacrifice himself. Heller ended up surviving thanks to Chloe O'Brian's actions and aided Jack as much as he could in his efforts to stop Margot and Cheng Zhi. The next day, the CIA were looking for Jack and Chloe, but more out of curiosity than to arrest them as Chloe was no threat with Open Cell gone and Jack had been pardoned. Despite his pardon however, the Russians still wanted him for his actions during Day 8 and Jack had to surrender himself to them to save a kidnapped Chloe and ensure his family's safety. Voided or interrupted pardons On several occasions, pardons were drawn up for persons who were killed before they could benefit from the arrangement. In other cases, the conditional pardons granted for others were voided because the essential condition of the arrangement was not met. And, in the instances of Collette Stenger and Greg Seaton, their pardons were nullified when it was revealed by the government that they deliberately gave false information. Behrooz and Dina Araz Dina and Behrooz Araz were granted immunity during Day 4 in return for help finding Habib Marwan. Dina was shot by her husband and Behrooz was forced to go and get medical aid. While he was gone, CTU captured Dina and offered her and her son's freedom if she helped them. Behrooz was captured by his father and held hostage. Dina threatened to end their agreement if CTU did not rescue her son. She said that she believed in their cause but was doing what was right for her son. When Dina helped in an undercover operation against Joseph Fayed, as part of the pardon, her cover was blown and she was killed. Behrooz disappeared after he was traded for Jack Bauer in an attempt to distract CTU from learning of the death of the Air Force pilot killed to give Mitch Anderson access to a stealth fighter. Jacob Rossler On Day 5, Rossler was supposed to set up a meeting with Ivan Erwich to arm 20 nerve gas canisters, but CTU got to Rossler first. In exchange for his help in locating and capturing Ivan Erwich, Rossler demanded immunity for all his crimes, the return of all of his money, transport to a foreign country of his choice, and his 15-year-old sex slave Inessa Kovalevsky. Lynn McGill agreed to the terms, but Inessa shot Rossler before he had a chance to collect. Collette Stenger During Day 5, Collette Stenger was granted immunity for promising to reveal the source of the blueprints to CTU. However, she lost her immunity when Bauer discovered she had lied about her source in an attempt to get Jack off the trail. Hamri Al-Assad After it was discovered that Hamri al-Assad wished to renounce terrorism and bring his organization to participate in peaceful negotiations, he was pardoned by President Wayne Palmer in exchange for his assistance in tracking down Abu Fayed, who framed Assad for being responsible for numerous terrorist attacks around the country. The pardon angered Curtis Manning who threatened to kill Assad, but who was shot by Jack Bauer to prevent him from doing so. Shortly before Assad was planned to appear in an important television address with President Palmer, he foiled an assassination attempt on the President at the cost of his own life. Greg Seaton Greg Seaton promised to reveal the location of the prion variant bioweapon engineered by Jonas Hodges to the FBI in return for full immunity. Even after receiving the pardon, which was electronically signed by President Taylor, Seaton remained loyal to Hodges and gave them a false location on the other side of the Starkwood compound in order to buy some time. Larry Moss, his FBI team, Tony Almeida, and the accompanying Navy SEALs were then surrounded and outnumbered by Stokes and other heavily-armed Starkwood mercenaries. Victor Aruz Prior to Day 8, people smuggler Victor Aruz was involved in a plot to kill Kamistani President Omar Hassan. He and his men helped a Russian assassin, Davros, enter the United States illegally. By the start of Day 8, however, the same assassin was targeting Aruz, hoping to tie off loose ends. With both of his men dead, Aruz reached out to an old associate for help, who put him in touch with the local CTU. Aruz bargained for a presidential pardon, offering to divulge details on the assassination plot in return. CTU granted his request, and an immunity deal was signed. However, Aruz was killed by the hitman before he could make it to CTU. With his dying breath, Aruz told Jack that the assassin was in contact with "someone" close to President Hassan. Sergei Bazhaev Sergei Bazhaev negotiated with Jack Bauer and achieved full immunity for himself and his son, Josef Bazhaev, in exchange for Sergei revealing where the nuclear rods were being held. However, the situation became complicated when Josef stole the rods to complete the deal with Farhad Hassan in order to get revenge on Sergei for killing Oleg Bazhaev. Jack and Sergei called Josef, who eventually agreed to bring the rods in. However, while still on the line, Josef was shot by Samir Mehran, who had been watching him through a sniper rifle. Because Farhad and Samir obtained the rods, Sergei Bazhaev's immunity was revoked. Dana Walsh Dana Walsh, a Russian mole planted by Mikhail Novakovich and working for Samir Mehran within CTU New York, was discovered to be aiding the terrorists by Chloe O'Brian. Dana was put in custody and questioned, but she refused to divulge any information without a full pardon, as well as "compensation" for the money she would not receive for completing the job for Samir. Reluctantly, President Allison Taylor agreed to sign the immunity agreement, and Dana told Jack and CTU everything she knew about Samir and his plans. However, she was too late as Omar Hassan was already dead when they arrived to save him. Since the pardon was based on the condition that her intelligence would result in the safe return of Hassan, the arrangement was revoked. Discussed pardons Patrick Kelly On Day 3, Sherry Palmer contacted Kevin Kelly and asked him to come forward with information about Alan Milliken. In exchange for airing the story of his daughter's death at Milliken's hands, Kelly asked for a presidential pardon for his son Patrick, who was on death row. However, Kelly disappeared under suspicious circumstances before Sherry had a chance to set up the pardon. Chris Whitley During Redemption, after confessing his findings on the funds embezzled ordered by boss Mr. Nichols, Chris Whitley asked his friend, the First Son Roger Taylor, if his mother, President-elect Allison Taylor could grant him a pardon with his participation in laundering money for someone in the terrorist watch list. Before this could proceed, Whitley was murdered by John Quinn and Halcott for Jonas Hodges. Ryan Burnett On Day 7, when it was revealed that Ryan Burnett had information about General Benjamin Juma's attack somewhere in Washington, D.C., Jack Bauer tortured him to find out what the target was. However, he was stopped and arrested for it. President Allison Taylor then questioned Burnett about the attack and offered him immunity in exchange for information, but he refused it. Jack Bauer During Day 7, President Allison Taylor was willing to pardon Jack Bauer if Senator Blaine Mayer refused to release Jack from testifying at Mayer's senate hearings and were to be found guilty. However, it was not clarified if the senatorial hearings proceeded following the murder of Senator Mayer, much less if the pardon was granted. Steve Navarro During Day 9, CIA Station Chief Steve Navarro had analyst Jordan Reed murdered to cover up the fact that he had framed Adam Morgan for selling government secrets to the Chinese, a crime Navarro himself was actually guilty of and Jordan was close to discovering. Due to the fact that Jordan managed to kill his assassin, Navarro was at risk of being identified and contacted Adrian Cross to get him out of the country. With the help of an old CIA friend, Jack Bauer identified the assassin and was able to connect him to Navarro who promptly stole the defense override module and fled. Navarro was apprehended by Jack and the CIA, but managed to pass the override device off to Adrian Cross beforehand. Following the exposure of his part in Jordan Reed's murder, analyst Gavin Leonard was able to find out what Jordan was researching when he was killed and thus reveal Navarro's treason as well as clearing Adam Morgan's name. Navarro, who was trained to withstand torture, refused to help without full immunity for his crimes, knowing that Erik Ritter wouldn't allow him to be tortured. Jack tried, but was stopped by Ritter. Without any other choice, the CIA contacted the President to set up an immunity deal for Navarro, but Jack and Adam Morgan's wife Kate played one final gamble before the deal was ready: Kate, in an apparent rage over Navarro's role in her husband's suicide, stormed into his hospital room with the apparent intention to kill him while Jack tried to convince her to stand down. Kate and Jack's deception was so convincing that Navarro cracked in an effort to save his own life: he had attached a tracking device to the override module and gave them the code to it. The two then revealed their deception to the stunned Navarro and Kate informed him gleefully that he was going to be executed for treason. Having gotten the information they needed out of Navarro, they no longer needed the immunity deal and he was arrested for his crimes. Background information and notes * In order to release his wife Chloe through immunity, Morris O'Brian helped the FBI track the whereabouts of Jack during Day 7. This may have simply been an arrangement with the federal government not to press charges, and not a presidential pardon. Category:Terminology Category:Government Category:Presidency of the United States